National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan launched the country’s first zero energy building (ZEB) yesterday during the opening of Singapore Green Building Week.
The ZEB, the first building of its kind in Southeast Asia that costs $11 million to retrofit, is located within the Building and Construction Authority’s (BCA) Academy.
The ZEB features a roof with around 1,540 square metres of solar panels that can generate approximately 207,000 kilowatt hours of electricity a year, which is enough to provide electricity for 45 four-room HDB units.
It is estimated to be around 40 to 50 percent more efficient as compared to typical office buildings with similar design and is expected to save about $84,000 in electricity costs.
According to Mr. John Keung, chief executive of BCA, it would cost an average premium of five percent to retrofit a building in order to qualify for the Platinum Green Mark award.
BCA is utilising the ZEB as its testing ground for many kinds of efficient devices such as mirror ducts and single coil twin-fan ventilation systems.
The enhancement of such technologies is a part of the government’s plan to meet the target set out in the Singapore Sustainable Blueprint, which expects 80 percent of all buildings in the country to have achieved the basic Green Mark Certification by year 2030.
“The greening of buildings provides a new growth opportunity for our construction industry,” said Minister Mah during the inauguration ceremony.
“We have an existing stock of over 210 million sq m of building floor area. The retrofitting of existing buildings for greater energy efficiency will involve several steps: First, auditing the buildings to identify the key inefficient areas; second, upgrading to newer and more energy-efficient equipment; and third, ensuring that building operations are run in an energy-efficient manner.”
The plan of having green buildings not only presents investment in new technologies but also an opportunity to invest in more efficient manpower capabilities, according to Mr. Mah. He also said that the country needs to build up a “green collar” work force comprising about 18,000 to 20,000 specialists within the next ten years in order to design, develop, operate, construct and maintain green buildings.